Black Panther is still pouncing on the competition at the box office and shattering records. Aside from already earning more than $700 million, the Marvel superhero film has had an even greater impact on fans and viewers, especially at Frederick Community College.
“It was beautiful to see many brown faces shown on the big screen in a positive light,” said Shemica Sheppard, associate professor of reading at Frederick Community College.
Sheppard joined Chianti Blackmon, director of multicultural student services. Blackmon and a group of nearly twenty students from FCC joined the crowd that packed into theaters on opening night, pumped to see Black Panther, at Westview Regal Cinemas in Buckeystown.
“The students looked as if they felt validated, watching something that makes them feel represented significantly and not like a criminal,” Sheppard said.
Black Panther is the latest film in the Marvel series, staring an all-black cast. This move from Marvel studios is more impactful than seen on the surface, especially for those who have come to America from African countries or have strong African roots within their family culture.
“Something great about Black Panther is that it has a dynamic storyline and plot that anyone can enjoy.” Said, Blackmon.
Director of Library services at Frederick Community College, Colleen McKnight said, “It was an enjoyable film that stayed within the Marvel elements. It was nice to see a film that featured a black cast, and didn’t care what people thought.”
According to FCC’s 2017-18 school demographics on Frederick.edu 12.7% of the total student population is African American/Black students making it the second largest student population, and the largest student body representing students of color.
The last time a superhero movie featured a black protagonist was in 1998 when the Blade series came to the big screen. Fast-forward 20 years later, young African American boys and girls now have an entirely new lineup of black characters to embrace as role models. Furthermore, Black Panther was directed by Ryan Coogler, a black native of Oakland, California.
“Other from it being very profitable, it’s great that the Marvel and Disney studios are donating some of the money back into the community,” Blackmon included.
Black Panther was originally created as a comic book series in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They created Wakanda, a fictional African nation and characters like T’Challa in order to offer young black readers a character with whom they could identify.
52 years later, Black Panther has come to life from the pages of Marvel Comic books to I-max 3D big screens in theaters across the world.
“For me to see a movie three times in a row, it’s a very good film.” Said Sheppard.
